The Prince's Guardian
by Axl-fox
Summary: An emotional story about Lucas dealing with his complicated past, all while having to put up with his rather cold bodyguard, Venoct.


Notes:

1\. Yo-kai will be spelled "yokai" for convenience  
2\. This fic takes place after the events of Yo-kai Watch 1, with some YW3 side quest elements added to it, there may be some canon divergence involved  
3\. THIS IS NOT A SHIPPING FIC  
4\. This fic mostly focuses on Lucas and Venoct's relationship so its rather dialogue heavy  
5\. This is baby's third fic ever, so please bare with me on this one

* * *

Two months have long passed since Chairman McKraken's vile plans of taking over both the yokai and the human world were foiled by the Yokai Watch bearer Katie Forester, with the help of her yokai friends and her classmate, Lucas. The town of Springdale returned to its formal state and most of the white yokai were eradicated, and everyone resumed their normal life... Or at least, as normal as it could get…

It was a sunny day at the town of Springdale. School had finally resumed, but it was the weekend so children enjoyed their free time playing at home. Well, at least most of them. One particular child with black hair covering half of his face, wearing his usual light yellow sweater and blue pants, stared at the distance from the balcony of his house. The kid in question was Lucas.

Lucas was a kid who could never quite fit in with other children and found it hard to make friends, not only because he had a rather timid personality, but because he had the singular ability to see yokai. He always had this unique ability since he could remember, so it came as sort of natural to him, but the fact that almost no one else seemed to share this ability made him feel lonely at times.

Regardless, Lucas didn't pay much mind to his exceptional ability and had lived his days like a normal boy.. Until the day he and Katie faced the serpentine Yokai Venoct, who didn't only reveal that Lucas could see yokai because he was a yokai himself, but also that he was no one other but the son of the Yokai Ruler, King Enma..

It was certainly a lot of information for an 11 year-old kid to digest. Even two months later after the events, Venoct's words still echoed in Lucas' mind as if that happened only yesterday.

"…Ugh, I'm starting to feel a migraine" the boy mumbled while resting his face on his arms.

"Spending the whole day staring into the void is not going to do you any good, Lucas" a mysterious voice echoed. Lucas turned around to see where it came from, realizing that he was indeed not alone. Next to him there was a familiar humanoid-looking yokai with long wavy hair tied in a ponytail, black and purple clothes and his signature dragon scarf.

"Ah, hello Venoct… how long have you been here?" Lucas asked, he was already used to the slippery yokai popping out of nowhere quite often.

"The same amount of time you have been out here actually. I just came to check how you were doing" Venoct responded.

"Same as always, huh?" Lucas said in a rather quiet voice, then resumed gazing into the distance once again. Lucas still found hard to understand how even though Venoct has been keeping an eye on him for the longest time, he still failed to feel his presence. Either Venoct was very good at hiding, or Lucas was so used to the feeling of 'being watched' that he simply decided not to indulge about it.

But ever since their fateful encounter at the yokai world, the young boy has become too aware of Venoct's presence. He felt as if the serpent was everywhere yet nowhere at the same time.

"Is there something wrong? Do you feel any hostile yokai still present in this town?" the yokai asked, kind of snapping the boy out of his absentmindedness.

"N-No, it's just… It's still hard for me to believe that I'm not actually from this realm, I've lived all my life being raised as a human, you know?" Lucas replied.

"Sorry about that… Wiping away your memories was sadly a drastic measure we had to take" Venoct said, in a rather serious, yet melancholic tone.

"Say… Venoct" Lucas turned to where the yokai was standing "I know you're supposed to be my guardian and everything but… Now that Mckraken is paying for his crimes, and the seals have returned to normal... Maybe we can take things a little more casually now?" the child started fidgeting with his fingers in a shy manner.

"You think maybe we could be fri… friends?" Lucas asked in a quiet voice, slowly reaching to pet Venoct's dragon mufflers.

"Absolutely not!" Venoct replied, raising his voice so suddenly that it started the little boy. "My mission is to protect the son of Enma and nothing more! I was already careless enough when I allowed that human girl to take you to the yokai world; you could have ended up in the hands of McKraken!" Venoct added, trying to regain his cool composure.

"I actually have to take this job even more seriously from now on" the serpent yokai said, crossing his arms.

"Venoct…" Lucas lowered his head sadly, this was not the first time that Venoct had rejected Lucas' attempts at forming a bond with him, but he had an especially bad feeling about that last sentence.

"I'm going back to Mt. Wildwood, if something bad happens; just say my name and I will be there" and with a poof of purple smoke, Venoct vanished from Lucas' sight, leaving the child alone with his thoughts once more.

* * *

It was already Monday; unlike the previous day, clouds were covering the skies and light rain had already started to fall, but to children's disdain, the rain wasn't strong enough to cancel school.

Regardless of the bad weather, it was just another average day of school for everyone, with the exception being Lucas' classroom, where supernatural shenanigans were taking place thanks to a loose Snotsolong giving everyone sneezing and coughing fits. Katie was once again trying her best to keep the situation under control without raising anyone's suspicions.

This sight however, was one not uncommon for Lucas. Ever since Katie got her yokai watch, things have gotten much livelier; but right now he was too distracted to pay attention to the events unfolding. From the classroom's window the boy could see a figure standing from the top of the nearest building, it was a bit hard to make out thanks to the rain but the two dragon-like silhouettes pretty much gave it away. It was Venoct, who was most likely still searching for remains of the white yokai while still keeping a safe distance from the child he was supposed to protect.

"(At this rate he's gonna catch a cold…)" Lucas thought to himself, as he let out a sneeze, now noticing that he was also being inspirited by the crane-looking yokai.

* * *

The school bell rang announcing that class was over, all students got their umbrellas and raincoats out and walked back home as fast as they could. Lucas, who waited until it was less crowded, put on his frog themed raincoat and walked outside of the school gates, he noticed that Venoct was there too, waiting for him.

"Hehehe… Are you here to walk me home?" the child giggled in a shy but rather mischievous manner.

"….soooomething like that" the scarfed boy replied with narrowing eyes, not appreciating Lucas' tone "I've been hearing reports of white yokai still lurking around, so it's safer if we remain together" he added, and with that the two boys went on their way to Lucas' home.

….

While they were waiting on a red light to cross the street, Lucas took a spare umbrella out of his backpack and held it over Venoct's head. When the yokai noticed what the little boy was trying to do, he stared at the umbrella and then back at Lucas. He did this repeatedly before floating away from Lucas' reach; this made Lucas step in closer to get Venoct under the umbrella again, which once again made the serpent float away from the boy, this odd process repeated a couple of times.

"Lucas stop that! I don't need an umbrella I'm already all soaked!"

"You're gonna catch a cold!"

Suffice to say it took them a while before they finally crossed the street.

….

Lucas eventually made another stop at the bakery to get himself a couple of snacks.

"Hey Venoct, would you like a bagel?" Lucas asked as he held the snack on his hand.

"Lucas, I'm your guardian, you don't need to share your food with me" the yokai rudely turned to somewhere else.

"Fine, more for me then…" was all Lucas could say before stuffing the bagel into his mouth, he tried to make it sound like it was no big deal, but he actually felt rather hurt at Venoct rejecting him once again.

They keep walking a little further when they came across a TV store, the TVs at the shop window were showcasing Next HarMEOWny's weather channel, which was announcing a typhoon was on the way to hit Springdale in the upcoming days.

"A typhoon? Oh dear, I feel for the yokai who have to search for shelter when that happens" Lucas turned down sadly; his companion only stared at the bright screens in silence.

"Venoct? How about you spend the night at my place? The weather will just get worse from here on so—"

"That won't be necessary" Venoct interrupted with a serious tone before Lucas could finish.

"Do you have a place to stay on your own?" Lucas tilted his head in curiosity.

Venoct shook his head "I am Venoct the wandering yokai, I don't have nor do I need a home" the serpentine boy simply shrugged "Besides, how many times do I have to tell you my wellbeing should be the last thing you should worry about?"

This was indeed not the first time that Venoct had said these words, or rejected Lucas' help, or rejected a snack; while he had his reasons to be so indifferent, it was starting to get irritating even for someone as patient as Lucas.

Getting tired of Venoct's dense attitude, Lucas finally snapped "And how many times do I have to tell you that you can't simply ask me not to care about you?!" as he said this, the TVs and the nearby lamp pole started blinking. Even though this only lasted for a couple of seconds, it was enough to startle the elite yokai. "I… never mind, let's keep walking…" with a big sigh, the boy regained his composure and resumed walking once more.

"(Although his yokai powers are still dormant, he can still manage to make nearby electronics to go awry when he feels upset… Did I make him… mad?)" Venoct thought to himself.

"(No… that's none of my business)" the serpentine shook his head and kept moving forward before being left behind. The rest of the way home was a silent and awkward one.

The next day came. The weather still cloudy and gloomy, school was cancelled due to the typhoon warnings but places like malls and shops were still open. Lucas had paid a visit to the book store at Shopper's Row to buy a particular fairy tale book that caught his eye.

"I wonder if Venoct is okay… I haven't seen him all day" The child wondered, walking his way out of Flower Road.

"Wait… when did it turn so foggy outside?" Lucas noticed how his surroundings were completely covered in fog; he could barely see anything or anyone at all, when suddenly…

"W-whoa!" a huge fireball came out of nowhere heading directly to Lucas' direction, giving the boy barely enough time to react and jump out of the way.

"W-What was that? Who's there?" Lucas quickly stood up and searched for the source of the sudden attack. At the top of a building, a mysterious figure was standing. It was canine in appearance and seemed like it had multiple heads, but it was hard to make out due to the heavy fog.

"I FINALLY FOUND YOU… CHILD OF ENMA!" The creature yelled, making a sudden jump and landing right in front of Lucas, allowing a more clear view of them. The creature in question was a Multimutt, but there was something odd about this one. His body was completely off white in color.

"(Oh…Oh no, this must be one of the white yokai remaining that Venoct was hunting for!)" Lucas thought, petrified at the sight of such a big, scary yokai.

"MCKRAKEN MAY HAVE BEEN DEFEATED, BUT HIS RESOLUTION STILL BURNS WITHIN MY SELF! I SHALL TURN YOU INTO ASHES!" The multi-headed creature howled, preparing to shoot another fire attack at the defenseless kid.

"A-Ah… please don't…" Lucas whispered, all he could do was to cover himself in fear as the proximity between him and the white yokai was too short to make an escape.

"You won't touch a hair of his!" a voice from the distance shouted, suddenly a barrage of what it looked like to be dragon heads started attacking the white Multimutt merciless; the canine yokai couldn't do anything but yell in pain.

Lucas opened his eyes to see what was happening; floating right above the injured yokai's body he could see a figure too familiar to him.

"Venoct!" the boy said, the serpentine boy didn't reply to his call, instead he stared at the enemy yokai who was getting back up after receiving such critical damage.

"YOU… HOW DARE YOU DEFY ME?" Multimutt yelled.

"If you want to go anywhere near the yokai prince then you will have to defeat me first!" Venoct said with a confident tone, taking his battle stance as his dragon heads hissed at the hostile creature.

"Lucas! I will take care of this guy, run away!"

But the young child hesitated "B-But Venoct! What about—"

"I said RUN!" Venoct yelled, loud enough to scare the poor boy and make him run away without a second thought.

"I… I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!" And with this, the two yokai started exchanging hits, while Lucas tried to flee from the scene as fast as possible.

"Gasp… gasp… I really hope… Venoct will be okay…!" the boy said to himself as he kept running, but since the kid was not exactly physically fit, he eventually had to slow down to catch a breath.

"But… but what if he gets hurt…? I know… he's an elite yokai and all but… That Multimutt looked so angry…" Lucas turned over to the direction he was running from "I'm such a fool! I shouldn't have left Venoct behind!" unable to shake off his bad feeling, Lucas started heading back to where Venoct and Multimutt were.

…..

Back to Venoct's fight, Multimutt was frantically shooting fireballs at the serpentine yokai, Venoct did his best to avoid getting knocked down while trying to land any hits on the canine with his dragon mufflers

"(Damnit, this is taking much longer than I expected)" Venoct thought, starting to get irritated. He was aware of the fact that while he was a great attacker, he had very poor defense, so if he let Multimutt land any hits on him, he could get in some deep trouble; he started to wonder if he was actually fit for the job of being Lucas' guardian. The serpentine yokai was too distracted by his thoughts to notice that Multimutt got a grab of one of his dragon heads.

"What the-?!" was all Venoct could say before he started being swung around like a chew toy. Every swing caused Venoct to crash against nearby walls and windows; it seemed like the slippery yokai was in a huge disadvantage, when suddenly...

"Let him go, you monster!" a voice came from nearby, and before Multimutt could react, he was hit in one of his eyes by a pebble. It was small, but it hurt hard enough to make him accidentally let go of Venoct.

"AGH! WHO DID THAT?! SHOW YOURSELF" the canine growled angrily, trying to shake off the pain.

"It was me! I'm the one you're after, right?" Lucas came out of his nearby hiding spot. Revealing himself to be the one who threw the pebble.

"L-Lucas! Have… Have you lost your mind?! I told you to get away!" Venoct yelled, trying his hardest to get back up after the hard beating.

"THAT'S IT! I HAD ENOUGH OF YOU TWO… I'M FINISHING THIS NOW" Multimutt howled, before he started running at full speed toward Lucas.

Venoct, knowing he didn't have enough time to stop Multimutt with a soultimate, gathered whatever magic energy he had left to deliver a deadly blow with a lighting strike.

"GAAAAAaaAAaAAAaAAaAAAAAaAAAAaAGH!" Multimutt screamed as he was being electrocuted. With this, the white yokai was finished off and vanished in a cloud of purple smoke; this also caused the smog surrounding the area to clear.

Lucas just stood there in shock; he had a hard time processing that he just escaped from a near-death experience.

"Uuugh… What a noisy one" Venoct say in a quiet and mildly irritated voice. Unable to stand on his own feet, he fell on his knees.

"Oh… Oh no! Are you okay?" Lucas finally snapped back to reality as soon as he realized his yokai guardian was seriously hurt and covered in bruises, and immediately ran to him.

"Hang in there! I think I have a first aid kit with me…" the boy said with a worried expression, reaching out for his backpack.

"Y-You fool… I told you to stay away, you could've died...!" Venoct glared at the boy, ignoring the pain he was going through.

"And you would have been beaten to a pulp if I hadn't been there!" Lucas replied with an annoyed tone as he was searching for bandages and cotton balls to treat the yokai's injuries.

"It doesn't matter! I don't care if you don't like how things work but my duty is to protect the son of King Enma. Whatever happens to me as a consequence of that is irrelevant!" Venoct pushed himself back on his feet, even against his own body's wishes.

"Venoct, wait!" Lucas cried, trying to futilely reach for the serpentine yokai.

"Don't worry about me; I can heal just fine…" Venoct said, before disappearing into thin air, once again leaving the kid all by himself.

The boy could only look at the small book he just purchased, which he accidentally took out of his bag when searching for his aid kit.

"This is… so unfair… Venoct" the small boy whispered almost on the verge of tears, tightly holding his book.

* * *

Sunset came, the clouds grew even darker and the wind was starting to pick up, clear signs that the typhoon was not too far from hitting Springdale. Lucas decided to take a detour to the Mt. Wildwood shrine before heading home, after all not even a yokai prince should abstain from paying respects to the mountain guardians. After making his offering, the little boy turned around and sat nearby the winding staircase, he had a good view of the town from here he was; he reached for his backpack to get the book he bought earlier to take a look at it once more.

Not too far away, a cloud of smoke appeared, revealing no one other than Venoct himself; apparently he was already better from his injuries, even if he still looked a little bruised.

"Lucas, you should really head home. A strong storm is getting near" he said as he approached the boy.

"Venoct… can I ask you a question?" Lucas asked in a deadpan tone, without turning to look at the yokai.

"What… is it?" the humanoid yokai embraced himself for what could possibly be another silly question.

"Since I'm the prince of all yokai, I can order people around to do my will, right?" The child turned to face the serpent.

"What are you getting at?" Venoct asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Can I… Can I fire you from being my guardian?" Lucas looked at his guardian with a sad expression on his face.

Venoct widened his eyes in shock "What?! No, of course you can't! Not to mention you won't get any political power until your yokai powers awaken"

"Oh, I… I see" Lucas sighed in frustration.

"Still… Why would you ask such a question in the first place?" the yokai asked, sounding rather troubled.

"Because I'm tired! I'm frustrated and sad by just being with you!" The boy snapped, he tried raising his voice, but the feeling in his throat caused by the tears he was holding caused his voice to break. However it was still loud enough to make the elite yokai take a step back.

"You keep doing these things—you keep getting yourself hurt for my sake even though I never asked you to! And whenever I try to do something nice for you in return you just push me away! It hurts so much… and I can tell I'm just nothing but a burden to you…" tears started rolling down Lucas' face, trying his best to wipe them away with his long sleeves, but to no avail. "Why do you do this?"

"I already told you! I'm only carrying your father's orders!" Venoct glared at the crying boy.

"Would you quit it already? This is all thanks to that lousy promise you made to that man who knows how long ago, right?!" Lucas cried.

"T-The promise… how do you know about—wait…!" Venoct fixed his eyes on the book that Lucas was holding.

Upon a closer look he could see the book was titled 'Enma and The Serpent'.

"…An old man at Shoten temple told me about this book and I immediately knew-" Lucas held the book tightly "you're the serpent of this tale… aren't you?" Lucas gave a glance at this book, then at Venoct again.

"After Enma defeated me… I fell into a great depression. He thought I had to put my powers into a better use, so he made me promise to watch over this town… and then his future son…" Venoct said his voice almost too quiet to be heard.

"You seemed to be in good terms with my father… so why is my case different?" the teary eyed boy asked, his voice breaking even more.

"He… he mostly just took pity on me and tried to make me feel important by hiring me as his heir's guardian… Besides he wouldn't ever have allowed letting a peasant like me become closer to his son, I already had accepted that" the yokai just gazed into the distance, unable to face the teary-eyed child before him.

"Is… Is that why you're so cold to me?" Lucas inquired.

"Venoct… I've lived my life thinking I was just a 'normal' human boy until recently; I don't know anything about being a yokai, much less anything about the principles of being from a loyal lineage…

All I know is that… I feel lonely. I don't need a guardian... all I want is a friend" the little boy covered his face and began sniffling.

"Lucas…" Venoct whispered feeling quite conflicted; it never quite crossed his mind how much this whole situation has been stressing Lucas out from since the revelation of his past at the yokai world to this present day. It was just normal for a young kid like Lucas to break down the way he did.

The serpentine yokai couldn't help but wonder. It was clear enough that his job was to protect the prince from physical harm, but… Was he supposed to protect him from emotional harm too?

But before Venoct could say anything else, Lucas fled from the scene, running his way down through the long winding stairway. Venoct couldn't bring himself to do anything but helplessly watch as the kid slowly disappeared from his field of vision.

* * *

Night had already fallen. Heavy rain was pouring down like a waterfall, thunder could be heard from the distance and the strong wind was making house windows rattle incessantly.

Lucas, who was lucky enough to arrive home before the storm started, put on his yellow polka dot patterned pajamas and lied down on his bed. He gazed at the raindrops hitting the transparent balcony door; the boy was trying to sleep, but he couldn't help but feel the strong thunder noises to be overwhelming.

"(I wonder if I will be able to sleep at all…)" He child thought, sighing deeply.

And then, as sudden as a lighting strike, a shadow materialized at the other side of glass doors. It was impossible to make out who or what it was since it was so dark, but it startled Lucas enough to make him jump from his resting position.

"W-Who's there?!" Lucas said under his breath, he got up from the bed and took his glasses, cautiously walking his way toward the sliding doors "H-Hello?" he asked.

Another strike of lighting revealed the figure to be Venoct, who was standing completely still.

"What the… Venoct?!" the kid stood there in shock, wondering why in the world why the scarfed yokai was paying him a visit in the middle of this storm.

And even thought Lucas was still upset over the argument that took place earlier, the boy didn't have the heart to leave Venoct standing outside in the middle of the heavy rain, so he slid the doors open and led the yokai inside.

"Venoct! What were you doing in the middle of that storm? You're completely soaked!" the kid asked, but he got no response. Venoct just stood in place, dripping water all over the carpet, then began to shiver.

"Ghh…. C-cold…" was the only word that the serpent could formulate, stuttering in a quiet tone that was rather uncharacteristic of him.

"Ah… wait, Let me get a towel" the boy went to grab towel inside his drawers, but before he began rubbing, he hesitated. He was afraid that the yokai would stop him dead on his tracks and say something like 'I don't need you to take care of me' or anything of the sort.

But Venoct didn't say a word, he just kept shivering.

"Ok… hold still all right?" the boy began rubbing the towel all over the shivering yokai. This was probably the first time Lucas had been able to get this near, let alone touch Venoct, so he tried being as gentle as possible. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that Venoct was gonna snap at any second and scold the kid, but the yokai seemed like he was too frozen in place. Not even the dragon heads would show any kind of resistance when the boy began drying them too.

"Well… you're no longer soaked but we need to do something about your clothes" the kid pondered, he could only do so much with the towel and Venoct's clothes were still too wet for comfort.

"Oh, I got it! You and I are the same size; you could wear one of my pajamas!" Lucas ran to his drawers once again to get dry clothes for Venoct; the humanoid yokai just stared at him quietly.

"I…I t-think I will be going now" the serpent turned on the opposite direction and slid the glass doors open, but Lucas took notice pretty quickly.

"Oh no you won't!" the child grabbed the yokai's arm and pulled him back inside, then pushed him all the way to the nearest bathroom so he could change his clothes.

Once that was done with, the kid waited for Venoct outside the bathroom. After several minutes, the door opened and the yokai revealed himself… wearing what it seemed to be light blue pajamas patterned with white stars.

"I…f-feel silly" he whispered while analyzing the outfit he had put on.

"At least you're now dry! And… you even look much less intimidating now" the child let out a shy giggle. Venoct could only just groan in frustration, but something seemed off. Lucas noticed that the yokai was still trembling, and it was not exactly the 'embarrassed' kind of trembling.

"Venoct? Are you ok?" the child couldn't help but show concern.

"Damnit… its s-still cold…" the trembling yokai tried covering himself with his own dragon mufflers, but to no avail.

Lucas then approached Venoct, reached for his face and gently pressed his forehead against his.

"L-Lucas?!" Venoct widened his eyes, taken aback with the sudden closeness.

"Venoct.. you're warm, I think you got a fever." the boy replied with a concerned look on his face.

"That's.. that's one odd way to check someone's temperature." the yokai turned somewhere else, hoping that Lucas wouldn't notice the light blush on his face.

The boy just lowered his head in return.

"I-I'm sorry… that's just the way I was taught to do it." he then resumed on his previous point. "Anyways… I don't want to say 'I told you' but you may have caught a cold."

"Nonsense, I'm an elite yokai, I don't catch co—" But before he could finish, Venoct let out a loud sneeze, sending a chill down his spine. He covered himself with his mufflers once more. "B-but I guess flying in the middle of a storm after a beating... just... just to check if you arrived home safely...w-was not one of my best ideas…"

"Please go back to my room, I will get you some medicine. Okay?" Lucas requested in his usual concerned voice, gently pushing yokai in direction to his room. Venoct seemed like he had no choice but to comply.

…..

Back at Lucas' room, Venoct was sitting on Lucas' bed, hugging his legs and avoiding moving as much as possible. He took a closer look to his surroundings to try and take his mind off from the cold; there was nothing noteworthy there. A bookcase full of comics and school books, superhero and idol posters hanging on the walls, a couple toys sitting atop of the drawers, typical stuff you'd find inside a boy's bedroom.

"(I've watched this kid ever since long ago, and only now I've come to realize that even though he's a prince, he has lived his whole life as a commoner, how foolish of me …)" Venoct thought to himself before being interrupted by a sneeze.

"Helloooo, I'm baaack~" Lucas walked into the room, holding a couple of pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other. He then sat next to his visitor.

"These are pain relievers for humans but I think they work on yokai too, I've… tested it myself after all" The kid explained, placing the aforementioned objects on Venoct's hands. The yokai pulled down his scarf to take the medicine, and whispered a quiet "Thanks".

"Let's hope they make you feel better" Lucas added, Venoct only nodded in response.

The two boys stood in silence for a while, just watching the heavy rain falling from the other side of the glass doors. It was a rather unusual night for both of them and yet it was oddly calming. Lucas noticed Venoct's dragon mufflers were within his hand's reach and started petting them.

"You know… you have been awfully lenient this whole time, is something the matter?" the child inquired.

"I'm… feeling too sick to quarrel with you right now" the yokai replied, Lucas could tell he was not being honest, but preferred not to indulge about it and instead he kept petting the dragon twins.

"…Are you still mad at me?" Venoct asked in a deadpan tone.

"A little… but I've calmed down" Lucas stated "Say… even though your dragon mufflers are made of aura, they actually feel pretty soft, hehe~"

As soon as he said this, the dragon heads started nuzzling on the little boy like small cats, causing the child to giggle.

"Hey you two… s-stop that" Venoct attempted to drag the dragons away from Lucas but before he could do so, the chill going down his spine was so bad that he curled himself as much as he could and started trembling like a leaf.

"Venoct…!" a concerned Lucas exclaimed, and without giving it much thought, he got closer to the serpent yokai and wrapped him in a soft embrace.

Once again, the sudden closeness took Venoct off guard. He was not one used to physical contact, so he tried pushing the boy away in an attempt to break free, but to no avail as he was feeling too weak to do so.

"Lucas no… y-you're gonna get sick too…" the sickish yokai protested.

Lucas just tightened his hug and whispered "Shh… You have already done so much for me, so at least for this night only… Let me be your guardian, ok?"

After hearing these words, the serpent yokai widened his eyes and stopped struggling almost immediately. His breathing slowed down, giving up completely into the embrace; Venoct didn't want to admit it, but for once he was feeling… safe? It was rather ironic, but he didn't want Lucas to let go either, so they stood like this for a while until Venoct's trembling started to die down.

Then Lucas decided to break the silence "…Are you feeling any better?"

"A-ah… sorry, I think I was starting to fall asleep" the yokai replied, mildly embarrassed.

"Oh! Y-yeah I think we should lay down now, it has been a long day…" the boy then carefully helped him lie down on his bed, covering both of them with the blanket.

"You know, it's the first time I've had someone over to spend the night at my house. Too bad it had to be under these circumstances …" Lucas joked.

"Lucas… I… I owe you an apology" Venoct turned over to face the child.

"You don't have to apologize! It's not your fault you got sick…"

"N-No I mean… I'm sorry for acting the way I did" the sickish serpent tried to hide his face in shame.

"I thought for the longest time that it was best for us to not form an emotional bond, so I… kept saying these hurtful things on purpose, so you wouldn't have to care for me and I could do my job more efficiently" he added.

"Venoct…" Lucas turned at the yokai with a sad expression on his face.

"I didn't do it because you were a burden to me!" Venoct continued. "But because I wanted to protect you not only from physical damage but also any emotional turmoil… but now I realized how bad that backfired… I…"

"…Heh, as a guardian I guess I do deserve to get fired…" Venoct ended burying his whole face into the pillow, unable to make eye contact with Lucas.

But the child didn't respond. Instead he surrounded the yokai with both arms and pulled him closer. "No please don't say that…I-I didn't actually mean it when I asked if I could fire you… I'm just glad to know that you don't hate me" he said in a quiet voice as he nuzzled the other one's face. "I want you to remain by my side…"

"Lucas…" whispered a sleepy Venoct, not having enough energy to say anything else, he gave up himself completely to Lucas' affection until he drifted off to sleep.

"hehehe… Goodnight to you too" the boy giggled, he decided to follow up and buried his face deeper on Venoct's scarf, closing his eyes and eventually falling asleep as well.

* * *

Several days passed ever since that night. The sky returned to its sunny glory, the typhoon was already long gone, fortunately not causing any important material damage. School eventually resumed activity—but that day class was already over and the children were heading home. Lucas was heading his way to the school gates when he noticed Venoct was nearby leaning on a wall.

"Oh, hi Venoct!" the kid waved.

"Hello Lucas, did you have fun on class today?"

"I… don't remember much of it really? I think I fell asleep" Lucas scratched his head in confusion.

"Hm…It was because all of your classmates except for Katie got inspirited by a Baku, I saw it all from the other building" the yokai explained.

"Really? Why do I feel like yokai are particularly attracted to my classroom?" the boy inquired, crossing his arms, to which Venoct could only shake his head and shrug.

"Anyways, do you want me to walk you home?" Venoct asked.

"Yes please!" the boy nodded happily, holding out his hand to the scarfed yokai.

"I…uh…" the yokai knew exactly what Lucas was going for and couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, hesitating for a bit- but eventually shook it off and gently took the child's hand. The two of them started heading their way out.

* * *

Back at Lucas' home, the boy was standing on his usual spot at the balcony watching the horizon while petting one of Venoct's dragons –whom he was standing right next to.

"Venoct… if is it true that my father died so many years ago, and I have been here this whole time, then who's taking care of the yokai world?" the boy inquired.

"Well, from what I've heard, another heir to the throne was crowned king, and he's currently the one ruling over" Venoct placed a hand behind his neck; he knew better than anyone how confusing Enma's family tree could get.

"A-Are you telling me I have a brother?!" Lucas jumped back a little from the too sudden conclusion.

"It's a little more complicated than that; he's more like… your nephew? He's the child of one of your older sisters, but he was born before you did so he gets priority as a royal heir." Venoct shrugged once again, he couldn't make this up even if he wanted to.

"O-oh right, my sisters 'who are working abroad' are actually yokai princesses too, aren't they…" Lucas scratched his head "But finding out I'm the uncle of the yokai king –who also happens to be older than me- somehow doesn't make things less awkward"

"So… what are you gonna do, Lucas?" Venoct turned to the boy, his voice taking a more serious tone.

"What do you mean?" the boy tilted his head in curiosity.

"It may still take a while before it happens but… Once your yokai powers awaken, you can challenge the current King Enma and fight for your right to claim the throne." Venoct closed his eyes, he couldn't help but feel he shouldn't be saying these things to Lucas.

"Claim the throne huh…" Lucas lowered his head and fell into a deep silence. Having to fight someone from his family to become king was certainly a lot to take in, but still…

"You know, I've been thinking… about having to assume my role as Enma's descendant that is…" the boy finally spoke "But that would mean I would have to leave everything behind, wouldn't I?"

Lucas raised his head and took at good look at his surroundings "But, this town-this is the place I was raised in, and… I guess it's within my nature as a prince, but both the humans and yokai living in this town mean a lot to me. They're an important part of who I am, and I want to look out for them."

The boy then turned to Venoct, clutching his hand into his chest. "I've made up my mind. For the time being, all I wish is to continue living in this town, as just a normal kid called Lucas…"

Both the yokai and the boy stared each other in silence; Venoct could tell by the unusual yet intense look in Lucas' eyes that his decision was final. The scarfed spirit let out a sigh and finally spoke "I see… I understand"

"And… I guess you don't have to be my guardian anymore since I don't really want to be a prince and all" Lucas asked, returning to his usual nervous posture.

"Not quite, I've made up my mind too" the yokai placed a hand on Lucas' head, and looked at him with a gentle expression "I will remain as your guardian, but not because I was ordered to… but because that's what I want to do"

Lucas could feel his smile growing wider "Thank you, I want to grow up big and strong with you by my side"

"Lucas…" Venoct felt touched by the boy's words, so much that a faint glow started to emanate from his body; suddenly a small object materialized above his head and floated its way to Lucas' hands.

"Huh? What's this?" Lucas inspected the object; it looked like a small silver disk with Venoct's picture on it "Is… is this a yokai medal?"

"W-what?!" suddenly the yokai's face turned a bright red out of embarrassment.

"Lucas! give that back!" Venoct frantically tried to snatch the medal from Lucas' hands but the boy kept extending his arms, then ducking, then jumping, running in circles inside the room and then back at the balcony just so he could stay out of yokai's reach.

"Wait! What's wrong with me having it?" the child asked.

"I didn't mean to give you my medal, It was an accident!" said Venoct, grasping for air after tiring himself out. "Yokai medals are basically useless without a watch…" he added.

"Is that so…" Lucas took a closer look at the medal, "Katie told me that yokai medals are given out as a token of friendship, is that right? So even if I can't use it… If I may, can I keep this one as a good luck charm?" The kid asked with a gentle expression on his face.

Not having the heart to negate such a innocent request, Venoct just replied "I… I suppose so" while still feeling embarrassed about the slip-up.

"But wait—" the boy looked at the yokai with a certain brightness in his eyes "Venoct… did you mean to give me this because… you want to be my friend?"

The floating yokai felt like he ran himself into a corner, not exactly sure how to answer that question. He had been avoiding for the longest time to befriend the person he was supposed to protect, but deep in his heart he knew that this ended up hurting both of them in the long run. He didn't want this to happen anymore, so with that out of the way, Venoct stood firmly and said…

"Yes, please allow me to be your friend, Lucas." he bowed his body slightly as a formality, but he didn't last long is this position as he felt something launching onto him like a soft cannonball. Next thing he knew, Lucas had wrapped Venoct in a tight hug, nuzzling his face against the yokai's.

"Of course you can be my friend! I love you, you dummy!" said a teary-eyed Lucas, quickly placing a small peck on Venoct's cheek.

The yokai just froze in place, feeling his cheeks burning –again, not knowing how to react to physical affection; but he knew the only right thing to do was to return the hug. Without giving it much thought, he gave the child a peck on his forehead, whispering a sincere "I love you too, Lucas".

The two boys stayed like that for another while, just enjoying each other's company, relieved by the fact that their days of struggling alone were finally over. They were no longer a guardian and a prince...

But two individuals who loved and cared for each other.

The End.


End file.
